African safari updates new advice?

Looking at a possible safari in June/July 2019. I have read the thread that was basically dominated by our terrible moderator CFu. African Safari Advice? - Travel, Wine Tourism, and Restaurants Forum - WineBerserkers
but was wondering if anyone had any more recent experiences.

Looking at maybe a Tanzania safari then the gorillas in Uganda or the Seychelles. There will be 4 of us so this will be a significant investment.
Abercrombie and Kent looks amazing but $$$$

TIA

George

My son is going on a primate safari to Uganda and Rwanda in June.

I’ll report back after.

A&K all the way. Close your eyes and just pay the ticket. Nobody else comes close and that’s even assuming things go smoothly. When you’re in the middle of nowhere and things go pear shaped is when you’ll never regret having used A&K. We just used them again on a tour of Malaysia which was fantastic. No way I’d ever go anywhere in Africa except with A&K.

Dan - Thanks for the feedback.
That’s what I was afraid of.
I guess you get what you pay for.

George

We used Mahlatini for our safari in spring 2017 (they are based in Northern Ireland - we were living in London at the time but I believe they do bookings for US residents as well). I would highly recommend them - they gave great recommendations. We basically told them our requirements/desires, and then they sent us a customized itinerary with 3-4 hotels to choose from for each local along with transportation in between everything, etc. They were also always available if we had questions and checked in a couple times while we were on our trip to make sure everything was going smoothly. A+ operation.

We did South Africa (a few days in Cape Town, a few days in Franschhoek and then 4 on safari). If you do look into South Africa - put Marataba Safari Lodge on your list. It is in a non-malarial zone about a 3 hour drive northwest from Jo-burg (close to the Botswana border). Big, gorgeous national park, big 5 animals and the absolute best tent/service/travel experience of our lives.

On a side note, I had the coolest experience of my life there when on the first night there was a huge thunderstorm that was illuminating our tent and the mountains outside the front “door”. In the distance we could hear a lion roaring until all of a sudden it was right out front. Turned out the lion was walking down the riverbed and walked within 100 feet of our tent. Crazy!

I heard a daily permit for gorilla trekking in Uganda is $1500 per person per day now??? Dayam.
It was $500 a while back when I went. That inflation is higher than Napa cults!

We took a trip to Tanzania and the Seychelles back in 1981–quite a wonderful experience! A&K has a great rep (and friends of ours who have used them say it’s deserved), but it is indeed rather pricey. On our last two trips to Africa–visits to South Africa in 2000 and to Namibia and Botswana in 2001–we used Fish Eagle Safaris, which did a spectacular job. It’s a Houston-based operation run by a South African expat. Were we to revisit Tanzania, I’d definitely give them a call. They’re not cheap, but I suspect would cost considerably less than A&K. In any event, I’m sure you’ll have a great time over there. Even if you’re not a birder, consider bringing along some good binocs and a field guide, as you’re bound to get curious about the feathered critters you encounter.

We know a couple that used this company last year for a trip to Botswana and Victoria Falls. http://www.africa-adventure.com/index.html. They couldn’t not stop gushing about the quality of their experience. Based on their experience and recommendation, we will use them when we book our trip.

We’ve been to Africa four times in the last 8 years, and (obviously!) think it’s an amazing trip and experience. We’ve used a company called Travel Beyond to help plan each of the trips and I can recommend them without hesitation. They really specialize in Africa and know it well.

http://travelbeyond.com

We’ve visited South Africa, Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Kenya and Mozambique. The latter was a beach destination that I wouldn’t necessarily go back to before checking out other beach destinations like Zanzibar, Mauritius or the Seychelles. But I’d gladly go back to any of the others for safari. They’re all sort of similar but also have subtle differences too.

For pure untouched and beautiful wilderness, it’s very hard to beat the Okavango Delta in Northern Botswana, or South Luangwa National Park in Zambia. South Africa (Kruger) is nice for convenience as international flights can get easily to Joburg and from there it’s a short hot to the park. It takes a little more work to get to Zambia or Botswana but still worth it. What we liked about the Okavango Delta is it’s truly wild, no fences anywhere. You’ll feel totally wild inside Kruger but eventually you’ll come to fences and communities - while still very cool places like Northern Botswana take you back in time.

We’ve stayed at Wildnersess Safari camps which have been tremendous. Vumbura Plains was so cool.

It’s also impossible to beat Singita - they have lodges all over Southern and Eastern Africa and the combination of service, food and accommodation are truly spectacular, especially when you consider the remote setting. Singita Boulders lodge in South Africa also has a massive wine cellar that is beautiful so if you stay there you don’t have to sacrifice your wine obsession. In Tanzania they have a trio of properties in the Serengeti where you could stay at each one and have a totally different experience. Sabora Camp is like straight out of the 1920s; Faru Faru is contemporary and modern; Sasakwa is 6 star over the top luxury.

Kaingo Camp in Zambia is a little more rustic experience, but still with tremendous quality of service, food and top notch game viewing. Really setup more than other places I’ve stayed at if you’re way into photography, with numerous hippo and elephant hides to get a vantage point on wildlife you normally don’t get.

There is nothing like getting away from it all, up early in the morning, no sound but the birds, game drive to see some amazing wildlife up close and personal, back to camp for a swim or lunch or rest,then back out for another game drive as the sunsets, have some sundowners next to the jeep, back to the camp for a wonderful meal…rinse and repeat. Guides we’ve had have been uniformly great and you meet some very interesting people from all over the world. Work and family has kept us from going back the last couple years but once things settle down this is a trip I plan on making at least every other year if not annually.

Edit: Forgot to add, we haven’t done gorilla trekking but everybody I’ve talked to that has says it is a must. This includes people that love a traditional safari as described above - they say you can’t really compare it to being up close with the gorillas which is out of this world. Have had my eyes on a place like Bisate Lodge in Rwanda.

I’ll second Ian’s comments about the Okavango Delta and the high quality of the Wilderness Safari camps. We stayed at Little Vumbura, King’s Pool and Xigera–they were delightful.

I know a guy… Seriously he’s been a friend of mine for over 20 years. He’s a small company and although he does hunting trips, he also does photo safaris, fishing trips, wine touring (he used to be in the wine biz in RSA). He knows every national park. He’s hosted folks for combination golfing/wine/national park trips. He’s a super fun guy with a lifetime of experience in the hospitality biz. www.besthunt.co.za. I’m sure you know that June/July is considered high season so it’s not too soon to start planning.

Don’t get on top: Lion Allegedly Kills Zimbabwe Woman Having Sex In Bush: Report | HuffPost The World Post

Not recent but we had an absolute blast at Lion Sands, in Sabi Sands. Very, very luxurious (although probably a notch below Singita). Great food, many meals. Didn’t bother with reserve wines which seemed pricey. The key is to spend enough so everyone is 2x2x2 in the Range Rover instead of 3x3x3. Noone wants a middle seat on safari.

Bumping this older thread. Anyone been to and/or have any recommendations/must-dos for Namibia?